grounding switches in old work plastic two gang box

I have a two gang old work plastic switchbox inside my home's front door. One switch in that box is unipole and drives porch light. Second switch (let's call second switch "foyer light switch") in the 2 gang box is one of three switches in the home where the foyer light can be controlled (two other switches are on second floor in two separate locations). I just replaced the foyer light switch near the front door with a dimmer, and it works great. OK..question is almost here.... Like a newbie (which I am) I did not pay scrupulous attention b4 I started as to whether the ground wire in that two gang by the front door was connected only to one of the switches or was connected to both of the switches. As I write, ground wire is connected to the dimmer switch (only). The ground wire attached to the dimmer arrives at the dimmer through a hole in the plastic cap that sits on a twisted bundle of ground wires. The unipole switch driving the front door light has no ground hooked to it. Question - Do I need to ground the second switch...and if so, how should I do that ? thx

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grounding switches in old work plastic two gang box

Quote:

Originally Posted by wkend2

I have a two gang old work plastic switchbox inside my home's front door. One switch in that box is unipole and drives porch light. Second switch (let's call second switch "foyer light switch") in the 2 gang box is one of three switches in the home where the foyer light can be controlled (two other switches are on second floor in two separate locations). I just replaced the foyer light switch near the front door with a dimmer, and it works great. OK..question is almost here.... Like a newbie (which I am) I did not pay scrupulous attention b4 I started as to whether the ground wire in that two gang by the front door was connected only to one of the switches or was connected to both of the switches. As I write, ground wire is connected to the dimmer switch (only). The ground wire attached to the dimmer arrives at the dimmer through a hole in the plastic cap that sits on a twisted bundle of ground wires. The unipole switch driving the front door light has no ground hooked to it. Question - Do I need to ground the second switch...and if so, how should I do that ? thx

You should take the ground to the dimmer and twist two tails onto it with a wirenut. One for the dimmer, one for the single pole.

grounding switches in old work plastic two gang box

grounding switches in old work plastic two gang box

Little trick if you have another wire nut (cap) with a hole in the small end, and the ground wire end that went to the dimmer is long enough.

Slide the new wire nut down the ground wire and use it to hold one tail (pigtail, additional short length of bare wire), and now you have two ground wire ends for the dimmer switch and other switch respectively.

Don't undo the first wire nut with the hole and covering the first twisted group of ground wires.